Argumentative Essay On 9/11

The events of 9/11 rattled America and demonstrated the need for a revision in the workings of the United States Intelligence Community. Many Americans, particularly those with left-wing political beliefs, view the new laws and resolutions in national security to be a fitting response considering 2,605 citizens died and 6,294 were hospitalized for related injuries. To prevent a tragedy so deadly from repeating, the NSA needs to advance its approach to the twenty-first century accordingly. Since terrorists communicate largely via cell-phones and the internet, the NSA having access to our phone records is only logical. By law, the NSA can only examine the numbers dialed and the length of the call, needing a warrant from a judge to eavesdrop on

a conversation. In a system of checks-and-balances, the judge will only issue the warrant if the NSA has valid evidence the wiretapped phone calls may lead to information on a terrorist threat. According to the NSA, the surveillance program has prevented over 50 attacks on American soil since 9/11. Those who believe the government is in the right claim thousands, if not tens of thousands of lives have been saved and the only privacy the NSA is invading is the privacy of those who are executing the terrorist plots. An Aesop’s fables tells of a tortoise who ferries a scorpion across a river only after the scorpion promises not to harm it. Midway through the river, the scorpion does indeed sting the tortoise, dooming them both to drown. When the tortoise asks why the scorpion responds that it was simply in its nature to do so. The fable is similar to the terrorism affecting the U.S.. Do Americans really want to protect the lives of the very people trying to end theirs?